As High as an Elephant's Eye

Folks who have vegetable gardens have my greatest respect. These folks have row upon row of beans and carrots, and spend the early spring mornings behind a rototiller, and the late fall evenings over the stove blanching for the freezer and canning for the winter.

If you have one of these in your family you know the type I mean. They sniff the air and fret that its too dry. They wonder if there will be enough sunlight for the tomatoes to ripen before the frost, they wonder if the corn could grow as high as an elephant's eye.

I can remember my father, his hands caked in northern Ontario dirt shouting out with joy as he pulled one potato after the next from the ground, inspected it and put it in one of two piles. Quick eating, or cellar storage. And I can remember my mother shouting at a flashlight taped to a hoe that it was dark, and time to come in already. Dad was a zealot.

Today's target posts on the Sproutoff forum are by folks heading down the vegetable path. The first is about tomatoes. If you grow the seeds from the grocery store tomatoes, just what do you think you will get? Find out in the tomato discussion: Store bought Tomatoes

The second gardening post is about growing corn for the first time. There are rules to getting a harvest from a wind pollinated crop, and you can read how they work here: Rookie Corn Patch

May your harvest be plentiful, and may its promise ease whatever toil you endure in reaching it.